Coventry Sphinx 0-2 Sutton Coldfield Town
Stuart Guest
Coventry Sphinx haven’t had many more frustrating games since promotion to the eighth tier than this Tuesday evening home defeat against Sutton Coldfield Town in the Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division.
If you have all the chances but find yourselves up against a brilliant goalkeeping display and lose, you can at least complain about the luck going against you and a good performance not being rewarded.
Losing to a couple of goals despite having most of the ball but barely testing the opposition goalkeeper offers only helplessness.
Any puzzlement over how Sphinx didn’t win this match – on the balance of play, they should have – is offset by the fact that Sutton Coldfield goalkeeper Lewis Landers didn’t have to do much for the visitors to keep a clean sheet.
Joint manager John Woodward was on solo duty at the Sphinx Industrial Supplies Arena and the home team had to contend with some enforced changes to his starting line-up.
Goalkeeper Charlie Woods played behind a back three made up of Ryley Nicholson, Jamie Draper and Kyle Burke in the absence of Patrick Zito, and Jordan Hayward moved over to the left with Finlay Shorrock unavailable.
Jack Downes slotted in at right wing back, allowing Roan Newey to come in as the most advanced man in midfield ahead of Iddriss Fuseini and captain Callum Woodward. Kyle Carey and Harry Wakefield continued as the front two.
The early minutes were scrappy on a heavy pitch after the prolonged rainfall of the previous week, and the first bit of quality was produced by Sphinx.
Carey broke the offside trap in the left-hand channel and cut in on his right foot before curling the ball wide of Landers’ far post.
Sphinx gradually started to control the half. Wakefield’s low drive in the 20th minute rebounded wide off Fuseini’s boot after the Sutton Coldfield goalkeeper got a block in, and Newey headed wide at the back post after a fine Carey cross from the right.
Excellent work from Fuseini a minute later led to Wakefield firing over from 20 yards and the striker was involved again on half an hour, when he tried an ambitious chip from long distance in transition but couldn’t get the dip he needed to drop it into the net.
The home team were well on top by the 38th minute. Hayward’s fantastic cross from the left was met by Newey’s diving header but the youngster couldn’t divert the ball on target. Sphinx were soon made to pay for not taking their chances while they were in the ascendancy.
With six minutes left before half time, a mix-up at the back gave Sutton Coldfield their first chance and left Kory Burke with an easy finish to make it 1-0.
From a Sphinx point of view it was a dreadful goal to concede and very much against the run of play. Without putting the ball in the net themselves, they didn’t have much cause for complaint.
The hosts were unsurprisingly knocked off their stride by conceding in that manner and took a while to get going in the second half. They barely had a kick for the first ten minutes after the break but they were soon pushing hard for an equaliser before conceding another sloppy goal out of nowhere.
Cameron Collins made it 2-0 with a simple header from right under the crossbar after a well delivered cross from the right flank that shouldn’t have been an option. Sutton Coldfield had created one opening and scored twice, and Sphinx only had themselves to blame.
They should have had a chance to get back into the game as soon as the 61st minute. Wakefield gathered the ball in the visitors’ box and turned sharply before being taken down by a very obvious trip under the referee’s nose and in full view of his assistant, but no penalty was forthcoming.
Having twice got themselves level after going behind against Sporting Khalsa a few days earlier, Sphinx kept plugging away. Hayward drifted in onto his right foot with 63 minutes played but didn’t quite catch his shot and Landers collected the ball without much fuss.
John Woodward turned to his bench for a rescue plan. Jac Redhead, Luke Shearer, Alex Lock and Damian Kelly all came on as substitutes as Sphinx searched for a way back into the match but the second Sutton Coldfield goal had taken the sting out of it.
The home team had a couple of presentable chances deep into stoppage time at the end of the game but both came to nothing.
Landers spilled a low Carey cross wide with a little help from the boot of Wakefield, who also drove a shot just over the angle after a smart threaded pass into the channel from Kelly in the sixth added minute.
It was a difficult result to stomach. Sphinx weren’t second best in any department other than finishing, where Sutton Coldfield were by far the superior outfit on the night to condemn Sphinx to a fourth defeat from four fixtures against the Royals over the last couple of seasons.
There are certainly lessons to be learned from this game but Sphinx shouldn’t let it derail the confidence they’ve built since Christmas.
For most of the time and across most of the pitch, this was a positive performance against another quality side, not to mention the usual graft the players put in as they tried to get something out of it.
They’ve played consistently well over the last two months and have had some great results to show for it. Getting their home form back on track is the next order of business and the first test will be on Saturday against Coleshill Town.
Sphinx team
Woods, Nicholson, Hayward, Fuseini (Redhead), Draper, Burke (Kelly), Downes, Woodward (Lock), Wakefield, Carey, Newey (Shearer). Unused sub: Masuku